About this book

Language: Bilingual in English and French

Halfway between Perche and Brittany, halfway between the Loire Valley and Normandy, the Normandie–Maine Regional Natural Park, France, is, historically, a buffer area, a strategic issue and a troubled border.

First shaped by its relief, then by men, this island of greenery, mountains and defensive steps still bears the scars and evidence of both its glorious and troubled eras. On the mountain reliefs man made his checkpoints. Forests and rivers were made into borders. Plains and prairies were cultivated. The Normandie–Maine Regional Natural Park is host to the wonderful sights of castles, manor houses, churches and chapels, and many other pages of history written by man, ever since the first Neanderthal populations.

The battle between Giroie and Belleme during the time of William the Conqueror, through the ravages of the Hundred Years War, Photographer Jerôme Houyvet invites you for a historical walk from the sky. From his powered paraglider he has skillfully captured the mists of the Sarthe Valley at dawn, the shadows that stretch in the park of the castle of Carrouges, the medieval village of Domfront that cuts above the mountain reliefs... This work is an invitation to dream, a richly illustrated journey to a vast and remarkably well preserved area.